If Barack Obama has an immediate eligibility problem, it is more likely to derive from the Social Security Number he has been using for the last 25 years than from his birth certificate.

Ohio private investigator Susan Daniels has seen to that. On Monday, July 2, she filed suit in Geauga County (Ohio) Common Pleas Court demanding that Jon Husted, Ohio secretary of state, remove Obama's name from the ballot until Obama can prove the validity of his Social Security Number.

Daniels, who has vetted thousands of Social Security Numbers for numerous other clients, has done her homework. In her filing, she thoroughly documents her contention "that Barack Obama has repeatedly, consistently, and with intent misrepresented himself by using a fraudulently obtained Social Security Number."

To acquire appropriate standing in court, Daniels has gone to the trouble of establishing herself as a valid write-in candidate for president. Before she is through, this 70-something mother of seven, who has been a licensed Ohio PI since 1995, may cause Obama more trouble than the Romney campaign.

Daniels started her investigation in August 2009. Given her profession, she has been able to access a variety of proprietary databases. What she learned without much trouble is that Obama has been using a Social Security Number with the prefix "042″ since 1986.

As she discovered, the "042″ number is reserved for the exclusive use of individuals who register in Connecticut. When she ran 10 sequential numbers before and after Obama's, all returned with the documentation "issued 1977-1979 in CT."

When Daniels ran the numbers immediately flanking Obama's, she came to the firm conviction that Obama's number was issued in March 1977 in Connecticut.

By all accounts, as Daniels thoroughly documents, Obama was then a 15-year-old living in Hawaii. There is no record of him even visiting Connecticut in or near this time frame.

To have gotten a Social Security card at this time Obama would have had to show up for a "mandatory in-person interview." This could not have taken place in Connecticut. Obama's sister, Maya, by contrast, uses a number appropriate for a Hawaiian resident.

Daniels checked other databases as well to validate her findings, including the Massachusetts Department of Motor Vehicles and the IRS. Yes, Obama used the 042 number to get a driver's license when at Harvard and as recently as on his 2009 income tax return.

In her research, Daniels kept coming across what she calls a "marked anomaly," one she had never seen before - multiple birthdates listed for the same person. The 08/04/1961 and 04/08/1961 variation made sense, but the frequent appearance of the year "1890″ did not.

The ample evidence Daniels gathered led her to believe that the 042 number Obama has been using "had previously been issued to another person," one who lived in Connecticut between 1977 and 1979 and who was born in 1890.

This assertion can be verified. By law, the Social Security Administration will have kept on microfilm a copy of the original SS-5 application attached to a particular Social Security Number. Daniels, however, does not have access to that microfilm.

For this reason, Daniels has filed suit. "Defendant Husted, through this filing," she argues, "has been made aware that the Democratic Candidate has been using a fraudulent Social Security Number, which would render Barack Obama ineligible under both the Ohio and U.S. Constitutions."

Daniels asks the court, among other things, to issue an injunction against Obama's name appearing on ballot until it is determined that he is using a proper Social Security Number.

Given the response of courts elsewhere, it is unlikely that Daniels will find satisfaction in Geauga County or from the Republican secretary of state.

What Daniels has done, however, is establish a paper trail so indisputably legitimate that even the most squeamish of conservative media will have a hard time finding fault.

The major media, of course, will not bother to look. It is up to our Beltway brethren to step up and ask some very basic questions of the president that they, through their timidity in 2008, helped elect. The Romney campaign cannot talk about this issue without their support.